Register for email alerts and news feeds:
This journal | BMJ Group
rss
Postgraduate Medical Journal 2003;79:597-599; doi:10.1136/pmj.79.936.597
© 2003 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.
Postgraduate Medical Journal 2003;79:597-599
© 2003 Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine

CASE REPORT

Multiple brain abscesses in a patient with bilateral pulmonary arteriovenous malformations and immunoglobulin deficiency

K-C Tse1, G C Ooi2, A Wu1, P L Ho3, S K Ip1, M H Jim1, Y M Lam1, Y W Fan4, W K Tso2, K W Tsang1

1 Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China
2 Department of Radiology
3 Department of Clinical Microbiology
4 Department of Neurosurgery

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Kenneth W Tsang
Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, 102 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China; kwttsang{at}hku.hk

ABSTRACT

A 34 year old Chinese man presented with grand mal seizures complicating multiple brain abscesses caused by mixed oral flora. Because of persistent hypoxaemia contrast spiral thoracic computed tomography was done, which revealed bilateral pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs). Concomitant IgA and IgG subclass deficiency was also found. The combination of these two conditions appears to have predisposed this patient to presumably paradoxical septic embolism. The patient’s cerebral condition responded to postoperative antibiotic treatment and he eventually received selective coil embolisation of right lower lobe PAVMs, which relieved his hypoxaemia and dyspnoea.

Keywords: brain abscess; pulmonary arteriovenous malformation; immunoglobulin deficiency

Abbreviations: MRA, magnetic resonance angiography; PAVM, pulmonary arteriovenous malformation


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

This Article

Services
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.